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DYING FOR OUR COUNTRY 



SERMON 



ON THE 



DEATH OF CAPT. J. SEWALL REED 



REV. THOMAS STARR KING; 



PHEACHED IN THE 



FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN MILTON, 



March 13, 1864. 



-T-^ 



BY .JOHN H. MORISON. 



BOSTON: 

PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 

n, Watek Street. 

1864. 



DYING FOR OUR COUNTRY: 



S E E M N 



ON THE 



DEATH OF CAPT. J. SEWALL REED 



REV. THOMAS STARR KING 



PREACHED IN THE 



FIEST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN MILTON, 
Maucu 13, 1864. 



BY JOHN H. MORISON. 
BOSTON: 

PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 

5, Water Street. 

1864. 



SERMON. 



John XV. 13 : " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lat 

DOWN HIS life for HIS FRIENDS." 

These words were spoken by our Saviour the even- 
ing before his crucifixion, and refer to his own death, 
— that great event, which, in connection with his 
teachings and his acts, has wrought such a change in 
the moral convictions, the spiritual insight, and the 
religious life, of the world. The whole plane of our 
being has been lifted up and enlarged by the senti- 
ment here expressed, illustrated and confu-med as it 
was so speedily by his death, and his resurrection from 
the dead. The end for which we are born has thus 
been projected into higher realms. This world has 
been eniiched and glorified by the light which streams 
upon it from the world of spiritual life and joy in 
which he lives, and which he has brought mto more 
evident and vital relations with us. Because he lives, 
we shall live also. As we live and believe in him, we 
are made partakers of his life, and already become 
members of that kingdom which rises over us, which 
enfolds us m its embrace, and carries up into its wide 



and holy realm the soiils of his followers, and the 
work which seems unfinished and in vam because of 
their premature departure from the earth. 

Here is one of the decisive tests of discipleship indi- 
cated by Jesus. He who so lives amid the higher 
sentiments and affections of our religion as to subordi- 
nate every thing else to them is recognized as belong- 
ing to him. Thus it is, that he who loses his life for 
his sake shall find it. That is, he Avho, at the com- 
mand of higher obligations, disregards this visible, 
apparent, earthly life, enters mto the unseen, substan- 
tial, eternal life, and, so far, is lifted up into his wider 
sphere of piu'e, unselfish living. 

Here is a real ground of distinction between those 
who are followers of Christ and those who are not. 
If you find a man to w^hom property or life is more 
sacred than duty, you may be sure that he has not 
entered into the spirit of Jesus. If you meet a man 
who scoffs at the finer sentiments of our nature, and, 
in respect to the greatest sacrifices which are made to 
them, asks, " Why all this waste'? " you may be sure 
that he is unable to know any thing of the ideas which 
Jesus came to declare, or the life which he came to 
impart. Here, more than in any ecclesiastical or theo- 
logical opinions or professions, is the best test of om* 
allegiance to Christ. He who resists temptation to 
wrong-doing, and in his life keeps himself unspotted 
from the world ; he who preserves the sweetness of 
his affections, and, delighting to do what he can for 
the comfort and happiness of others, forgets himself 



in his devotion to them ; he who esteems the cause of 
righteousness more sacred than that of self-interest, 
who considers the integrity and life of his country as 
of more importance than any private end, and who, so 
believmg, gives his life in attestation of his belief, — 
he so far enters mto the spirit of our Lord, and ap- 
proves himself his follower and disciple. 

" Greater love hath no man than this, that a man 
lay down his life for his friends." He who spoke 
these words died in order that the world might be 
drawn towards him, and, through faith in him, be 
made partakers of his divine and eternal life. His 
immediate followers, with no country except the 
spiritual community in which they were united, were 
called often to attest their fidelity to hun by dying as 
witnesses to his truth ; and, the more they died, the 
more thek numbers multiplied, and their cause pre- 
vailed. When prosperity and ease and life became 
dearer to them than their faith in Christ, and their 
fidelity to him, then their cause languished, and their 
religion became inoperative and dead. 

Those times of martvrdom, in the forms in which it 
then existed, have passed away. But there are other 
trials which furnish the same test of character, and in 
which our fidelity, even unto death, is as essential to 
the rectitude of our own lives and the advancement of 
God's kingdom on the earth. 

The highest conception we can form of a Christian 
commonwealth is that of a great spiritual community, 
the unseen Church of Christ, in which his ransomed 



ones of all ages and lands are gathered together, and 
which, in one unbroken communion, reaches down 
from heaven to earth, and draws into its embrace, from 
every kindred and nation and tongue, those who fear 
God and work righteousness. 

This is the highest idea that we can form of a 
Christian commonwealth. Next to this, and, in its 
highest state, beyond any thing that the world has yet 
known, coincident with it, is the idea of a Christian 
people, united together in one great commonwealth ; 
protected by wise and equal laws ; owing allegiance to 
the same government ; looking to the national flag as 
the emblem of liberty and justice, of union and strength, 
the ensign of a nation ready to put forth all its energies 
to defend the rights of the weakest citizen against the 
most powerful empire on the earth ; guarding all its 
children with equal care ; opening its schools to rich 
and poor alike ; protectmg churches and hospitals, and 
all benign institutions and charities ; raising highways 
through the wilderness for the houseless ; preparing 
homesteads for the homeless ; and, like the great Bene- 
factor of our race, sendmg out its gracious invitations 
into distant lands, and inviting people of every rank 
and condition, but especially the poor, the down- 
trodden, and the oppressed, to come, without money 
and without price, to share with us the privileges that 
we and our children enjoy. Next to the idea of the 
universal Church of Christ, reaching from earth to 
heaven, through all ages and all lands, is this idea of 
a Christian commonwealth, reaching from ocean to 



ocean, — from the lakes and forests of the North 
almost to the tropics ; administering its laws with an 
authority so gentle, that we were hardly conscious of 
its pressure ; while its benefactions visited us like the 
dews and the providence of God, — so silently, that we 
forgot to be thankful for them. No such common- 
wealth as this of ours ever before existed, — no one so 
free, and yet so secure ; so little interfering with indi- 
vidual rights, and yet so universally extending its pro- 
tection and its gifts to all. We began our life as a 
people here in the wilderness. We grew up by the 
neglect of the nation which had authority over us. 
Our institutions, our government, and our laws were 
left to form themselves around us, like our bodies, by 
no arbitrary rules, but almost as a natural growth from 
the vital forces which were at work within. The old 
governments and nations of the earth, which at fkst 
despised or ignored us, at length began to look upon us 
with admiration and fear. We were rapidly preparing, 
in the regular progress of our advancement, to take 
our place as the foremost among them all ; and except 
for one cruel injustice, allowed by our government, 
and bindmg its chains on four millions of helpless peo- 
ple, its influence was more and more felt throughout 
the world in favor of freedom and justice, and against 
the old despotisms which had so long oppressed the 
hearts and hopes of men. This, my friends, was the 
commonwealth in which we were born ; under whose 
laws, and in whose institutions, we were nurtured. 
Lived there ever a people on the face of the earth 



8 

who had so much reason to honor and reverence and 
sustam the Government which threw its protecting 
arms and laws around them ; whose blessings were so 
many, and its burdens so light? If foreign nations 
had leagued themselves together to overtlu'ow and de- 
stroy it, should we not have esteemed it a privilege and 
a joy to lay down our lives in its defence ? If traitors 
at home should league themselves together, and, after 
secretly plotting against it for more than a quarter of 
a century, should aim their murderous weapons at the 
bosom from which thek life and ours alike was drawn, 
though they were a thousand times our brethren, could 
we stand by, and see them murder the common mother 
of us all ? " Greater love hath no man than this, that 
he lay down his life for his friends." And here traitors, 
with murderous hands and thoughts, are trying to cut 
in pieces and destroy the dear and venerated form of 
her, who, as our common mother, has pressed us all to 
her bosom, and who, with bleeding countenance and an 
expression of infinite sorrow, looks imploringly to us 
for our support. By all that is most sacred in life, by 
our reverence for Christ and the righteous laws which 
he would have us obey, by what we owe to our chil- 
dren's children, she calls upon us to save her from this 
act of treachery and murdel*; to save our national 
honor and life ; to uphold through her the supremacy 
of wise and equal laws; to leave her with added purity, 
so as to awaken a deeper love and reverence among 
those who shall come after us. Shall we not obey her 
call, and lay down oui' lives if need be, freely, in de- 



fence of her, who, next to onr Sa'^iour, is our greatest 
benefactor and friend ? 

This is the appeal which " our own, our native 
land " has been niakuig to her children for the last 
three years, xlnd not m vain. No call of a suffering 
parent was ever more bravely or more faithfully and 
reverently obeyed. From every walk of life, and for 
every post of duty, her sons have come forth ; and 
thus we have been enabled to see, as never before, 
what specimens of large and generous manhood had 
grown up under her care. From our common-schools 
and our colleges, from poor men's homes and rich 
men s homes, young men, moved by a common enthu- 
siasm, have gone forth, side by side, to confront a com- 
mon danger, and to preserve the mtcgrity and life of 
the nation. Examples have been given of a heroism 
as beautiful, of a gentleness as whining, of a generosi- 
ty as noble, of a fidelity as sacred, and a reliance on 
God as devout and unfaltering, as any that are to be 
found in the pages of history or of poetry. I cannot 
think of them, whether living or dead, otherwise than 
with gratitude and honor. Then* names will be kept 
among us as watchwords to kmdle the patriotism of 
the young in all coming generations, and to keep alive 
their reverence for " whatsoever things are honest, 
whatsoever things are lovely and of good report." 
While they live, let our prayers call down the protec- 
tion and benediction of Heaven upon them; and, when 
they die, let their names and memory be cherished as 
the dearest and most sacred of our treasures. 

2 



10 



I wish to speak this morning of two men, in widely 
different spheres of activity, equally devoted to the 
same cause, and equally, I think, laying down their 
lives for their country, within the last few weeks. 
One of them was born and passed his early years 
within sight of this church. This quiet scene of rural 
loveliness surrounding the home of his childhood ; these 
trees, standuig here as God's sentinels to protect and 
guard his house of worship ; these roads and fields ; 
this house of prayer, and the Sunday school connected 
with it, — all, doubtless, had their influence in forming 
his character, and preparing him for the responsible 
duties that were to be laid upon him. He was thirteen 
years old when I came here in January, 1846. Once 
in that winter, by reason of a most violent storm, I 
preached to an audience of five persons ; and he was 
one of the five. He had no advantages of education 
which any boy among us may not have. He went to 
the town-school ; and then, for a short time, was a 
student in the academy under the instruction of IMr. 
Ezra Ripley, — a man of high purposes, of rare purity, 
integrity, and modesty, who, at the commencement of 
this war, left an extensive and increasing practice at 
the bar, and carried with him into the military service 
the brave and persistent resolution, the keen sense of 
right, and the instinctive hatred of wrong, for which 
he had been distinguished in civil life. After more 
than two years of faithful and efficient service, he died 
near Vicksburg, Miss., a few weeks after the capture 
of that city. The ability with which he acted, and 



11 

the value of the services which he rendered, were verv 
inadequately represented by the position which he 
held as lieutenant in the Twenty-ninth Kegiment of 
Massachusetts Volunteers. 

At the age of seventeen, James Sewall Eeed went 
to California, where, beginning as a day-laborer in 
some mechanical employment, he worked his way up 
to a post of responsibility and trust in a large mercan- 
tile house, whose confidence and respect he always 
afterwards retained. Few among us knew the tempta- 
tions to which our young men were then exposed in 
that distant land, freed as they were from all the re- 
straints of home, and from the legal and moral safe- 
guards which are furnished by the laws and habits of 
a well-ordered community. It is the testimony of those 
who knew him best through his whole experience 
there, that he never took advantage of the disordered 
state of society to relax the severity of his principles, 
or to give up any thing of his moral purity and ingenu- 
ousness. At the age of twenty-two, he was the cap- 
tain of a military company, and exercised a great and 
salutary influence over his men. He spent one season 
in Lower California, and the next on Frazer's River, 
where he was brought into contact with the Indians, 
whose adnuration and confidence he gained by his re- 
markable courage and his honesty, and whose grate- 
ful and devoted services he secured by his generosity 
and kindness. 

At length, there came a time when the government 
of California had become so corrupt that the laws 



12 

were perverted, and coiu'ts of justice turned into in- 
struments of violence and wrong, by those whose 
business it was to administer them. Neither Hfe nor 
property was respected ; and some of the best citizens, 
who had made themselves obnoxious to wicked and 
lawless rulers, were shot dead, cither in the streets or 
at their places of business. Tlie courts of justice 
offered no redress, but sheltered the murderers from 
harm. It was one of those rare and fearful occasions 
which are not likely ever to occur in a settled commu- 
nity, under our popular form of government, when the 
people are justified in taking the laws into their own 
hands, and securing the ends of justice by a summary 
and illegal process. Here our friend, as a military 
officer, by his judgment, his perfect fearlessness, and 
the ascendency which he had over his men, rendered 
important services to the cause of good government, 
and secured for himself, on a larger scale than before, a 
name and a place in the community, as one who might 
be relied upon in any great and perilous emergency. 

When the civil war broke out, he wished to offer 
himself as a volunteer. But the loyalty of California 
was at that time so doubtful, and the ties which bound 
her to the Union were so new and untried, that it 
seemed as if loyal citizens were more needed, and 
might be more useful to the Government, there than 
here. But he got out his military books, and studied 
them with continuous and earnest attention ; and 
when the fervor of our first enthusiasm here in the 
East had abated, and it was beginning to be difficult to 



13 

get the men that were needed, he, with a friend,* who, 
hke himself, has been in some measure connected with 
this rehgious society, determined to raise a company 
of cavahy. Within less than a week, five hundred 
men offered themselves as volunteers. But they could 
get permission to enlist only one hundred. With 
these picked men he came on from California about 
fifteen months ago, and attached himself to the Second 
Regiment of Massachusetts Cavalry. The expectations 
which he and they inspired have not been disappointed. 
He had, in a remarkable degree, the qualities which 
endear an officer to his men, and command at once 
their confidence and their obedience. He has had a 
trying service, and has always been found ecpial to its 
requirements. He might have escaped its hardships. 
On those distant shores of the Pacific, he might have 
remained at home, without any imputation upon his 
patriotism or his honor. He was a man of warm do- 
mestic affections. He loved his home with its comforts 
and its endearments. But the voice of his country, 
stabbed, and threatened with destruction, by the treach- 
ery and violence of her own sons, calling on him to 
give his ser\ices and his life in her defence, w^as a 
voice which he could not resist. He has fallen in the 
ripeness of his early manhood. No stain rests on the 
fair fame which he has bravely and honorably won. 
The more closely and confidentially I have inquh'ed 
into his private history from those who knew him best, 

* Capt. Archibald M'Kendry. 



14 

and in his most secret walks, the more unhesitating 
and unequivocal has been the testimony to the puri- 
ty and the integrity of his life. No braver man lived ; 
and he was as gentle as he was brave. A lady who 
came from California with him, and whose sympathies 
were strongly with the South, said she knew that he 
was a brave man, because he was so gentle, so devoted, 
and so patient in his attentions, to a little, helpless 
child. And so it usually is. The finest qualities of gen- 
tleness and modesty, of love and reverence, are those 
which entwine themselves most closely and tenderly 
around the strongest. In the field or the camp, when 
others were tired out or discouraged, he was always 
cheerful, and dispelled then* despondency by the conta- 
gion of his own light-hearted and mirtliful spirit. Let- 
ters from the camp say that it is dull and sad there now, 
without him. But he has fallen in the performance of a 
great and solemn duty. He pledged himself to a sacred 
cause, and he has fulfilled his pledge. These trees 
and hills will be clothed with a fresher green ; these 
homes will be more secure, and better worth living in ; 
these schools will be filled with a freer and more do- 
cile succession of pupils ; these churches will be con- 
secrated by a holier worship, a purer morality, and a 
loftier faith ; a nobler race will walk our streets for 
generations yet to come, when we are dead, and long 
centuries hence, — because of the life which he and 
others like him have lived, and the death which they 
have died. If any of you should stand weeping by 
what seems to you their untimely graves, remember 



15 

the words inscribed on the tomb at Thermopylae : 
" Go, tell them at Lacedirmon that we lie here in 
obedience to her laws." Or, better than that, with 
more of the Christian spirit in which so many of our 
young men have entered this great and terrible con- 
flict, write upon their tombs, or at least associate with 
then* memory, the words, for ever consecrated as the 
words of Jesus, and sanctified to us by his death : 
" Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lav 
down his life for his friends." 

The day after our friend, with many tears and bless- 
ings, was laid in his grave, the news came from San 
Francisco, that his minister, the Kev. Thomas Starr 
King, had suddenly died that morning. There was 
but one man in the United States who had greater 
power than he to draw together vast assemblies of 
men, enchain them by his generous thoughts, and 
charge them with his own enthusiasm. When this 
wicked war was forced upon us by the assault on Fort 
Sumter, and it was doubtful M'hich side the new State 
on the Pacific might jom, Mr. Kmg gave himself to 
his country with a purpose as brave and as solemn as 
if he had thrown himself upon the most desperate 
battle-field. He traversed the State. He lectured ; he 
preached ; he prayed. He electrified great masses of 
men with his own self-forgetting patriotism. He caused 
the sentiment of national honor and enthusiasm to 
thrill through them, and bmd them to their country 
with a warm and unfaltering devotion. There was in 
in him no jealousy, no narrow thought of self, to dim 



16 

the clearness of his eye ; no ugly ambition to gnaw at 
his heart-strings, and interfere with his kindly judg- 
ments, or prompt to ill-natiu'ed and ungenerous re- 
marks upon the character and motives of others. An 
intimate friend of his, who preached about him last 
Sunday, with singular felicity of adaptation entitled 
his sermon " The Unspotted Life." He had what no 
bad man ever has, — a laugh which rung as clear and 
mu'thful as the tones of a Christmas bell. When he 
went from us, he bore with him the light-heartedness, 
the elasticity, and the joyousness of a boy. But I 
learn that one, who saw him a short time ago, said that 
he looked then like an old man. The labors and the 
responsibilities of a lifetime, crowded with such inten- 
sity into those few brief months, had told upon him 
as the work of years, and probably left him without 
strength to bear up under a disease which otherwise 
might have had no fatal power over him. I have little 
doubt, that, like hundreds of other loyal men at their 
various posts of duty in civil life, he died " a blessed 
martyr" to his country, as truly as if he had been slain 
upon the battle-field. 

The last Sunday that Capt. Reed and his " Califor- 
nia Hundred " spent in San Francisco, they attended 
Mr. King's church. His concluding words, which I 
read from a copy written in his own clear hand as 
a parting memorial to his friend Capt. Reed, were 
these : " God bless you, brother Americans, for your 
readmess, for your zeal, for your pure offering of devot- 
edness, which to-day add force as well as illustration 



17 

to the pleadings of the gospel with our hearts ! You 
are not ' weary ' of the call and the strain of patriot- 
ism. There are those at the East who are. They 
w^ear no wounds or scars. They have not exposed 
then- lives. . . . And you, in these same hours, 
seek the 0'p][)ortun\iy of pledging strength and skill, 
and blood and breath, to our country's integrity and 
honor. Heaven hear our prayers for you, and cover 
you with its benediction! . . . May the flash of 
your blades, if you are called into battle, be the dawn 
of a better age for your country ! . . . Go, brethi'en : 
do your tremendous duty with dedicated hearts ; in 
the fear of God, which roots out all other fear ; in 
allegiance to Christ ; with the New Testament very 
near your hand, and its appeals very sweet to your 
souls ! ' Be not weary with w^ell-doing,' though your 
marches be long, and your hope of speedy success 
denied. In due time you shall reap, if you fixint not ; 
and, if those you leave at home be not cowards and 
traitors both, you shall reap, though you bleed, though 
you be maimed, though you die ; you shall reap in 
your country's redemption and renewal, in the honor 
that will invest your names in future years, in your 
reward in the better world." 

These, my friends, are great words of exhortation 
and of promise. And shall they not be fulfilled? 
Both he who spoke them, and the leader of those to 
whom they were spoken, have laid down their lives in 
attestation of their truth, and have entered into their 
reward. It remains for us who yet live to follow them 

3 



18 

by consecrating onrselves anew to the cause for which 
they died, and by carrying on, in Avhatever sphere of 
activity we can, the work which they have left unfin- 
ished. It was well that our friend who died in battle 
for us should be buried with every demonstration of 
love and honor, and that his name should be held in 
everlasting remembrance by those who wish well to 
their country ; and when our brother on the shore of 
a distant ocean, amid peaceful pursuits, fell almost as 
suddenly at his post of duty, it was well that places of 
business should be closed, and flags at half-mast, and a 
whole community sorrowing as under a great and 
common bereavement in the home of his adoption, 
and that here words of tender and reverent commemo- 
ration should be uttered. But we shall praise them 
best, we shall most truly honor their name and their 
memory, when we do as they have done, and in 
thought and word, in heart and deed, give ourselves to 
the work for which they lived and died. To us, as 
to them, our Saviour's words apply : " Greater love 
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life 
for his friends." 



19 



CAPT. J. SEWALL REED. 



At my request, Mrs. Reed furnished me with a little sketch 
of her husband's life, to be used in making up my account 
of his services ; but it is so much better than any thing I 
can prepare, that, without asking her permission, I have 
taken the liberty of retaining it in nearly the same form in 
which I received it. In some parts, I have condensed it a 
little ; but I am sure tliat no one can read it through with- 
out a feeling of admiration for the young man who so freely 
gave his life to his country. Nor can it, I think, be read 
without a quickening sense of patriotic enthusiasm, and a 
renewed devotion to the cause for which he died. We see, 
in this as in other histories, by what providential ways our 
young men have been prepared to take the self sacrificing 
and heroic part which they have taken in the terrible con- 
flict in which we are engaged. The cost of this war, in 
tears and blood, to uphold our Government, and save it 
from becoming a wreck and ruin, is indeed great; but who 
shall say that it is too great, so long as it brings out cha- 
racters like these, and holds up to us such types of self- 
forgetting manhood ? Capt. Reed had been for some time 
acting as major in command of a battalion. While em- 
ployed in that capacity, he was killed near Drainsville, Va., 
on the anniversary of Washington's birth-day, the 22d of 
Februar}', 18G4. His funeral was at the church of the 



20 

Second Congregational Society in Dorchester, where he 
had been married a little less than five years before. It is 
seldom that we have seen an assembly so large, and with 
such evident marks of grief, as was there gathered to pay 
the last tokens of love and honor to this brave soldier, this 
genial friend, this upright and patriotic man. 

James Sewall Reed was born in Milton, Mass., April 3, 1832. 
Of his early life, his sclioolboy-days, you know probably as much 
as I can tell you. My personal knowledge of him relates more to 
his California life ; though, as a child, I remember having a mor- 
tal dread of him, as I always saw him with a gu7i in his hand. 
He was naturally of an impulsive, ardent, enthusiastic character ; 
and in 1849, during the rage of the "gold fever," became much 
interested in California. With him, to think was to do ; and he 
became so desirous to try his fortune in that distant land, that his 
parents reluctantly gave their consent, though he was a boy but 
little more than seventeen years old. An extract from his journal 
says, " On the 30th of October, 1849, we set sail from Boston in 
the good ship 'Argonaut,' bound to San Francisco ; making up our 
minds for a ' life on the ocean- wave.' " Here, at the outset, he 
shows himself possessed of the characteristics of a good traveller ; 
being always cheerful, making the best of every event, never dis- 
couraged, and always finding something pleasant amid the dai'kest 
scenes. They sailed round Cape Horn, and made a quick and 
prosperous voyage ; going on shore at Valparaiso, eighty-nine days 
out from Boston. On the 13th of March, 1850, they dropped 
anchor in the Bay of San Francisco. Here commenced his first 
experience of " camp-life : " for, on landing, he pitched his tent, 
and commenced house-keeping ; washing, cooking, &c., for himself. 
He immediately found plenty of work ; and, that he might lose 
no time, he commenced building a flat-boat for river-travel. 
Finishing this, he next tried his hand at painting ; at which he 
continued for some weeks. His brother having arrived in Califor- 
nia, as soon as they could get ready, they started for the mines. 
They worked at mining, and were quite successful, some six or 
eight months ; when, thinking their claim entirely worked out. 



21 

and becoming a little tired of the life, they concluded to return to 
San Francisco. While mining, they had enjoyed camp-life in 
perfection, with sometimes a scarcity of provisions, which were 
very poor, even when abundant ; but the life was not distasteful, 
and many pleasant hours were spent there. They thought they 
had completely exhausted the wealth of their mine ; but Sewall 
has since told me that the same dirt had been worked over several 
times since, and each time had paid better than the first, so little 
was mining understood in those days. Returning to San Fran- 
cisco, he soon obtained a situation with Macondray & Co., one of 
the leading firms of the city. At first, he was employed in the 
lumber-yard, taking account of the delivery and buying of the ar- 
ticle ; but soon entered the store as salesman, Avhere he continued, 
winning the respect and love of his employers, until 1854. 

At this time, all who are acquainted with California history 
will remember that the moral dangers to which a young man was 
exposed were neither few nor small ; and older, stronger men 
often fell victims. But, from the first, Sewall had absolutely set 
his face against these things ; and such was the natural purity 
of his character, his innate love of goodness and truth, that what 
to many was enticing, to him was disgusting ; and few passed 
through the ordeal of those early California days more free and 
uncontaminated than he. His good mother's teachings here proved 
their value: he reverenced that mother, and did not forget her 
while away. 

His military life commenced as early as 1852 ; and I think he 
served in every position, except first lieutenant, from a corporal up 
to captain, first in the Eureka Light Horse-Guards, and afterwards 
the First Light Dragoons. In 1854, he returned to his New- 
England home on a visit ; and had so changed during the five 
years' absence, that even his mother did not know him. He came 
home via Nicaragua ; and though the route was in bad condition, 
and detentions were frequent, he always found something to enjoy, 
while many were only annoyed. 

He returned to California in November, 1854 ; and, soon after 
his arrival tliere, he went with a friend into the tea-business, 
which was quite successful, and in which he continued to show his 
abilities as a busiuess-maa. 



22 

1856 was a year famous in California history ; and he acted a 
conspicuous part in that Vigilance Committee which accomplished 
so much for the State. At this time, he was captain of the First 
Light Dragoons. I copy from his letter the account of his con- 
nection with the beginning of difficulties. He says, " On Sunday, 
I went to Gov. Johnson, and tendered my resignation as captain 
of the Dragoons, telling him that I was going to join the Vigi- 
lance Committee. He refused to accept it ; biit I joined them, 
and, at eleven o'clock, was sworn in by special request, although 
they did not take any members that day ; and I am a member of 
the Citizens' Guard, a company of a hundred and twenty-five 
men, used for duty at the court-rooms." At this time, the Com- 
mittee did not themselves know the arduous duties that lay before 
them ; and, after the first ditficulty was settled, they thought all 
would be quiet again ; but they were mistaken. When Sewall 
resigned his commission as captain of the Dragoons (most of the 
company having left also, and joined the Vigilance Committee), 
he joined the Citizens' Guard as a private. In three days, he was 
promoted to the position of captain of one of the companies, — the 
Guard having been increased and divided into four companies. 
Here he remained for a time, till he was elected captain of a com- 
pany of Dragoons. There was quite a strife for a little time as to 
which company should keep him ; and it was finally settled by 
Col. Olney himself, Avho said, that, for the good of the cause, 
Capt. Reed must go with the Dragoons ; for there were good 
infantry ofiicers in plenty, but few that understood cavalry as well 
Capt. Reed. So he became captain of Company B, Citizens' 
Di'agoons, V.C. ; and continued to act in this capacity while he was 
needed. His company numbered a hundred and sixty men. They 
met for drill every evening, and oftener if circumstances required. 
Business was almost entirely suspended during this excitement, 
and all Avere interested in learning " the art of war." Men of 
every rank and position shouldered the musket, and stood in the 
ranks ; and Sewall often said that he had men in his command old 
enough to be his father, yet all earnest and enthusiastic, ready to 
sacrifice life and fortune in the support of justice and right. I 
copy the account of the taking of "Judge Teny" as an example 
of the state of excitement there : "I was sitting in my office, 



23 

about tAvo, P.M., when I saw crowds of people rusliing down the 
street. Supposing it Avas a fire, I thought but little of it ; Avhen, 
in a minute, I heard the tap of the Committee-bell, and I knew 
then there was trouble somewhere. I closed my store immedi- 
ately, as all my neighbors were doing, and started for the stable. 
Men were rushing through the streets as if wild ; and I soon heard 
the cry, ' Judge Terry has killed one of the Vigilants ! ' I had 
my horse saddled, and started for headquarters, where I found my 
company present and in line. I reported to the general, and, in 
less than half an hour after the bell rang, was on the ground, 
among some two thousand men, who had surrounded the building 
whither Judge Terry had fled. Judge Terry was taken prisoner, 
though not a gun was fired or a man hurt ; and in another hour 
the city was quiet again." Sewall was also sent more than once 
on expeditions that required courage and ability, such as searching 
houses, making arrests, &c. ; and always succeeded to the satisfac- 
tion of the Committee. 

Business in the city was now very dull, and Sewall became 
interested in some mining speculations in Lower California. Some 
friends were going down to that country to locate grants, mines, 
&c. ; and, having had an excellent oiFer made to him, he concluded 
to accompany them, thinking to increase his store of worldly 
goods, and enjoy a trip through Lower California at the same time. 
It was a wild, almost vmknown country ; but his love of adven- 
ture led him to look upon the journey as one of pleasure rather 
than toil. He left San Francisco in May, 1857 ; going by water to 
Santa Barbara, — one of the southern ports of California. From 
here he went to Los Angelos, San Pedro, San Diego, and other 
towns in that vicinity ; riding on horseback hundreds of miles, 
spreading his blankets in the open air, yet always happy, always 
cheerful ; often obliged to shoot his supper before he ate it ; writ- 
ing his letters on his saddle-cloth, the top of his hat, a tin plate, 
or a milk-pan ; visiting mines ; locating grants ; riding sometimes 
sixty-five miles in a day ; travelling among the Mexicans and 
native Californians, — himself nearly as brown as they. He 
speaks of them as treating him very kindly, and being very hospi- 
table towards the " Americanos ; " and goes into raptures over the 
beautiful scenery that is constantly attracting his attention. I 



24 

copy one remark that will show his love for the " old flag : " 
"I shall spend the glorious Fourth in Mexican territory, and not 
under the ' stars and stripes ; ' but the American flag shall float 
over me that day, if I can find the cloth to make one." He re- 
mained in this country some nine months, and then returned to 
San Francisco again. This trip was a failure in a pecimiary point 
of view ; for he could not get the salary promised, as one of the 
parties had died ; and he returned rather discouraged, his hopes of 
success had been so sanguine. 

He had been in the city but a short time when the " Frazer- 
River excitement" turned the heads of the Californians. Gold 
had been discovered in large quantities in British territory, and it 
Avas thought it would prove a second California. The excitement 
in San Francisco was intense ; and, with the hope of gaining what 
he had lost in Lower California, Sewall determined to join the 
multitude that were hurrying northward to the new El Dorado. 
In company with one friend, who was to share the hardships and 
the success of the trip, he left San Francisco, in June, 1858, in a 
steamer bound to Victoria, Vancouver's Island. At Victoria they 
purchased an Indian canoe ; and, with three other men, — making 
five in all, — they commenced the journey up the river. It Avas 
a hundred miles to Fort Langley, their first landing-place ; and 
they intended to go a hundred miles beyond this. Their canoe 
was heavily laden, and the river-currents were very strong. In 
speaking of this journey, SeAvall says, " I think it is the hardest 
work I have ever done ; " and he had done a little of that during 
his life. 

He spent the 4th of July, 1858, at Fort Langley ; and, as they 
Avere on British ground, he determined that an American flag 
should float over their tent, on that day at least. So, the previous 
day, he set himself to work to make a flag that should be a re- 
minder of his home ; and that flag is now in my possession. An 
old red flannel shirt furnished the material of that color, an old 
white shirt Avas torn up for the Avhite, Avhile a blue blanket fur- 
nished the field for the stars. He could not make the stars to 
suit him ; and so he cut the figures '76 out of some white, and 
sewed it upon the blue ; and this flag floated over his tent on that 
day, on that British soil. Here, too, he had only his tent to live 



25 



iu, his blankets for a bed, and was obliged to do his own cooking, 
washing, &c. 

They went up the river as far as Fort Yale ; and, not being 
able to go any farther in their boats, they landed, and proceeded 
by land some twenty miles over the mountains on foot, and heavily 
laden, as there were neither horses nor mules in that country. 
About twenty miles above Fort Yale, he and his friends staked 
out a claim, and again commenced mining, as sanguine of success 
as though disappointment had never crossed his path. Until the 
gold excitement, no one had travelled this country but Indians. 
The Hudson-Bay Company had a few men at the different forts or 
trading-posts ; but they did not travel about the country. 

The Indians called them " King George's men," and the Ame- 
ricans they called " Boston." The same qualities which gained 
him friends among the Mexicans in California won the friendship 
of the Indians of this northern land ; and many Avere the presents 
of fish, berries, (fee, that he received from them. But all were 
not so well disposed, as one event in this history will prove, 
Sewall was one day sitting in his tent, when suddenly there came 
in an Indian chief with some four or five of his tribe. At fii'st, 
Sewall, thinking no evil, took little notice of them ; but they soon 
commenced looking about them, and gathering up such articles as 
they could see, intending to take them away. Sewall was alone ; 
but, seizing his revolver, he stepped forward, bidding them not to 
lay a finger on an article, or he would shoot them all. His reso- 
lute daring cowed the chief; and he fell on his knees, and begged 
for life. Sewall bade him get up ; which he did, saying, " Boston 
good Indian, Boston no coward ! " His partner soon returned, 
and has since told me that he had no doubt Sewall's courage saved 
both their lives ; for those Indians were very unfriendly to the 
whites. From this time, the chief, with all his tribe, were Sew- 
all's warmest friends, — constantly bringing him little presents of 
such as they had ; and it was not long before it was in his 
power to do them a kindness. The various tribes of the upper 
country had troubled the miners so much, that, at last, the miners 
determined to exterminate the whole number. Sewall heard of 
the organization, though he did not join them. He was some dis- 
tance from the white settlements which had been annoyed, — they 

4 



26 



being some forty miles farther up the river ; but, feeling that his 
Indian friends were in danger, he determined to save them if pos- 
sible. I copy his vv^ords : " Three of us started for the Indian 
ranch just before dark, on the same evening that the company of 
miners Avere to perform their work of extermination. As I was 
the only one who could speak the Chinook tongue, I told the chief 
that he must pack up and leave for the mountains immediately, or 
the whites would kill them. In less time than I could tell them, 
they were packed, and ready to leave, bag and baggage." The 
old chief shook hands with them, and gratefully thanked them, 
saying they would not forget it. That very night, their houses 
were burned ; and they would have shared the fate of the rest, 
had it not been for the timely warning. Very early the next 
morning, Sewall was awakened by a visit from the old chief, with 
a present for him ; and, while he remained in the country, they 
w^ere his constant friends. 

The Frazer-River gold mines proving somewhat of a humbug, 
they left the country in November, returning to San Francisco not 
much richer in worldly goods than when they left, but with a 
larger experience, and many pleasing recollections of hours spent 
there. Sewall, through all this time, never once alludes to the 
hardships and discomforts, except to mention the facts ; and always 
was cheerful, and sanguine of success. He engaged with his 
whole heart and mind and strength in every scheme which inte- 
rested him, and never gave up till he was convinced that he had 
exhausted the whole. He was very expert in the use of tools ; 
very quick and active ; and I have heard it said of him, that few 
men could accomplish so much in a given time as he could. In 
speaking of his travels, he says, " I have travelled about some in 
my life. I have been south as far as latitude fifty-six degrees, and 
here I am at fifty degrees north. I have lived under Chilian, 
Mexican, and English governments ; and the only way a man can 
truly prize our own glorious Republic is to see and travel in foreign 
lands. I am a thorough American, and I glory in it." 

Early in the spring of 1859, Sewall again came East; and we 
were married the 25th of May, 1859 ; and, in September of the 
same year, we returned to California. Sewall now determined to 
settle down, and enjoy the pleasures of domestic life, which pos- 



27 



sessed an especial charm for one who had been so long a wanderer. 
He purchased a ranch some sixty miles from San Francisco ; and 
there, in quiet happiness, he devoted his time to the cultivation of 
his ranch. We had lived there about a year, when, even in our 
distant home, we heard the nation's cry of alarm at the fall of 
Sumter ; and when he heard of the mustering of armies, and 
knew that danger was threatening that land he loved so well, he 
would often say to me, " If I were only a single man, I should 
certainly go East, and join the army." Even as early as this, he 
began again the study of military science, and interested himself 
in all pertaining to it; and, in the summer of 1861, he joined a 
company of men, as private, who met for drill and instruction in 
military matters ; but, knowing full as much as any of them, he 
was frequently the instructor. During this time, his mind was 
unsettled ; his thoughts were often dwelling on the danger that was 
threatening that land he loved ; and I have often heard him say, 
" that if this, the best government the sun shone on, was destroyed, 
he should not wish to live." He would have joined the army at 
this time, had it not been for me ; but I could not give him up. In 
November, 18G1, we again returned to San Francisco, — an excel- 
lent situation being offered him there, together with a better oppor- 
tunity to serve his State as a military man ; for at that time it was 
seriously thought that there would be trouble there. A new zeal 
had been given to the different military organizations ; and he was 
soon re-elected captain of his old company, — the First Light Dra- 
goons, — having resigned that position when in Lower California. 
Here I hoped he would be coutent, and gratify his love of military 
life as captain of that splendid company ; but his heart was with 
those noble men who were sacrificing their all for their country, 
and again and again was the unwelcome subject discussed between 
us. I had felt that there were plenty of men here, that there was 
no lack of material, and that his services were not needed ; but 
when I heard that men were less willing than formerly to volun- 
teer, and that drafting even must be resorted to in Massachusetts, 
I felt that it was my duty to give up my precious husband to the 
cause. I saw that good men were needed, and I knew how admi- 
rably adapted he was for the life ; and I, too, loved my country 
too well to see her destroyed witliout doing my all to save her. 



28 



I had no sooner given my consent than he proceeded to act ; and, 
with other Massachusetts men, formed a plan, the result of which 
you know. A finer body of men than the California Hundred, as 
they were called, was scarcely to be found in any State ; and they 
left San Francisco, Dec. 11, 18G2, for Boston; arriving in New 
York the 2d of January, and in Readville the next morning. 
They formed Company A, Second Massachusetts Cavalry. They 
remained in camp a little more than a month ; when they were 
ordered to Gloucester Point, Va. Here they were chiefly engaged 
in picketing, scouting, &c. ; in all of which they performed the vari- 
ous duties assigned them so as to win the respect of their com- 
manding officers. In April, the rebels came down upon Fort 
Magruder and "Williamsburg ; and Capt. Reed was ordered there 
in command of a squadron. Our force there was not large ; yet, 
contrary to their expectations, they were not attacked ; and, after 
a stay of about a month, the command returned to Gloucester 
Point. They remained here about a month longer ; when they 
received orders to join Col. Spear's command in his raid up the 
Peninsula, and here they saw their first severe fighting. I send 
you a letter from one of the members of the company describing 
the taking of the South Anna Bridge, which was done by Sewall's 
command. It is not for me to speak of his coolness and bravery ; 
but I can say that his actions at that time but increased the respect 
and confidence of his men. They approached quite near Rich- 
mond at that time, and were successful as to the object of the 
expedition. Soon after their return, they were ordered to join the 
army in the defences of Washington ; and were finally camped at 
Vienna, Va. For the last four or five months of his life, Sewall 
had commanded a battalion, though not commissioned as major ; 
and no officer in the whole regiment was more popular or more 
respected. Of the closing scenes of his life, I presume you are 
informed. It seems so sad, he was so young, and just upon the 
verge of military life, — so promising, so beloved; but 'tis well. 
He gave his life to that country he loved so much, and fell as a 
brave soldier wishes to die. Had he remained in San Francisco, 
he would have attained distinction in civil life ; but he cared not 
for it. 



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